Shoppers pleased with Black Friday deals

By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Friday, November 23, 2012 at 04:01 PM.

At 5 a.m.a manager came out and started taking the plastic wrap off of the items on sale. The man who had been dozing on the tool box and several people around him watched the manager, probably wondering if the waiting was really over. Then they started ripping the plastic wraps from the merchandise.

Two women grabbed a large electric fireplace in a box. A man started to help them but one of the women said it was only 130 pounds. They tossed it into a cart and headed for the cash register.

Ed Foulks of JamesCitywas pushing a cart filled with a pressure washer, sound bar and flash drives. Even after the rush of the 5 a.m.sale, he seemed reluctant to leave. He had been to the 8 p.m.Thursday sale, got an HDTVwall mount, took it home than returned with his buddy at 1:30 a.m.for the 5 a.m.sale.

“It was crazy in here,” he said. “People were camping out. You’d see them in chairs, people laying on blankets, lines in the aisles.”

Although the big-screen television sets Foulks’ buddy wanted were sold out, there was still plenty of other items left over from the sales.

“People that waited might have missed out on the bigger items but for the most part they still have plenty left and I’m not fighting the crowds,” Foulks said. “I should have just waited … could have saved myself the aggravation.”

At 5 a.m.a manager came out and started taking the plastic wrap off of the items on sale. The man who had been dozing on the tool box and several people around him watched the manager, probably wondering if the waiting was really over. Then they started ripping the plastic wraps from the merchandise.

Two women grabbed a large electric fireplace in a box. A man started to help them but one of the women said it was only 130 pounds. They tossed it into a cart and headed for the cash register.

Ed Foulks of JamesCitywas pushing a cart filled with a pressure washer, sound bar and flash drives. Even after the rush of the 5 a.m.sale, he seemed reluctant to leave. He had been to the 8 p.m.Thursday sale, got an HDTVwall mount, took it home than returned with his buddy at 1:30 a.m.for the 5 a.m.sale.

“It was crazy in here,” he said. “People were camping out. You’d see them in chairs, people laying on blankets, lines in the aisles.”

Although the big-screen television sets Foulks’ buddy wanted were sold out, there was still plenty of other items left over from the sales.

“People that waited might have missed out on the bigger items but for the most part they still have plenty left and I’m not fighting the crowds,” Foulks said. “I should have just waited … could have saved myself the aggravation.”

Foulks said it was much quieter during the morning sale.

“I think they are getting better at starting the sales earlier, like a day earlier,” he said. “It kind of cuts down on the turmoil. You kind of miss out on some of the bigger ticket items, but everybody knows most of the stuff goes on sale right before Christmas anyway.”

Foulks said he was going to leave everything in the trunk of his car when he got home.

“I’ll let my wife unpack the car when she gets up today and say ‘There’s the Christmas shopping done,’” he said.

Across Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Taylor Godette and her sister Cyndi, both of Havelock, were bundled in their coats sitting by the doors of J.C. Penney, looking tired but determined. They had been there since 3:30 a.m.waiting, first in line, for the 6 a.m.sale. They also came to New BernThursday night for Walmart’s 10 p.m.sale.

Despite the chilly morning and having to wait for the doors to open, they both said it was worth it.

“It’s great deals,” Taylor Godette said.

While people kept coming out of the dark parking lot, they both agreed they would do more shopping before Christmas.

Down the Boulevard, Matt Eanes of New Bernwas walking out of Target at 5:30 a.m.with a big bag of items. He got to Target Thursday at 2:15 p.m.for the 9 p.m.sale. No one was in line when he got there, but by the time the sale started, a line of people stretched half way around the building, he said.

“It’s like that every year,” Eanes said.

This year was the first time Eanes was at the head of the line before the sales. He has been to Black Friday sales four times.

“And this is the last time,” he said. “It was a mad house.”

Eanes, who was in a hurry because he had to hit a sale at Staples, said he was so focused on getting a 50-inch television for $349 at Target that he forgot some things and had to return Friday morning.